


Don’t Give A Damn

by asexualjuliet



Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: Character Study, Episode: s02e07 The Lost Sister, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-06
Updated: 2019-12-06
Packaged: 2021-02-26 00:07:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 650
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21694336
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/asexualjuliet/pseuds/asexualjuliet
Summary: Kali feeds on anger.
Relationships: Eleven | Jane Hopper & Kali Prasad
Comments: 2
Kudos: 15





	Don’t Give A Damn

**Author's Note:**

> I didn’t even like this episode, but honestly, Kali’s character had a ton of potential and I wanted to write something about her.
> 
> Title from Bad Reputation by Joan Jett
> 
> Hope you enjoy!

Kali feeds on anger. 

Ever since she was a kid. Anger is how she coped with all the shit Brenner and his henchmen put her through, and it’s how she finally escaped. 

Anger kept her going, took her all the way to Illinois, and she met a little family. 

And they took her in, and they all lived happily ever after.

(No, they didn’t).

They gave her food and shelter, clothing and love, but they couldn’t help her. 

So Kali left. Headed for the city and met the gang. 

And _they_ lived happily ever after. 

(That’s BS. Kali can’t be happy. She can’t give in to joy. She needs anger to thrive, needs anger to _live.)_

They live in an old warehouse, in an abandoned garage, they live anywhere the police won’t find them. 

Because all five of them are fueled by anger, by their own and by Kali’s, and they use it to hunt their prey.

Anger is what chased Kali to Chicago, and it’s what she uses to reinvent herself. 

She’s not _Eight._ She’s not a little kid. She’s a badass young _woman_ who doesn’t take any _shit._

Eight disappears when Kali gets to Chicago. When Funshine finds her sleeping behind an old dumpster and brings her home to the garage that they’re using as this week’s hideout. 

Eight disappears when Mick and Dottie size her up and give her a makeover, when Dottie does her eyeliner and Mick gives her an old leather jacket to replace the stolen sweatshirt she’s used to cover her battered old sundress. 

Eight disappears when she takes off the clothes her “family” gave her and she dons Mick’s old leather jacket. When Dottie shaves half her head and looks at her with something like respect. _You look badass, kid,_ she says, and Kali smiles. 

Eight disappears when Kali makes her first kill, when Axel looks her up and down and says _not bad, kid._

Eight fades away with each kill Kali makes, until the ugly mark on her arm is all that’s left of the little girl she used to be. 

And then, years later. 

Eight comes back. 

Well, does she?

Maybe it’s more accurate to say _Eleven_ comes back. 

Eleven comes back, and _forces_ Eight back into existence. 

Jane is small for her age, she must be at least twelve by now, all curly hair and bright eyes and childlike innocence. 

Jane is the girl Kali was, before she let anger rule her life. 

Kali sees it in her, though. Anger bleeds through Jane’s brown eyes, and Kali goes to work giving her the life she deserves. 

Hair gel and eyeliner, leather jacket and cheap rubber mask, and Eleven is gone. 

Eight goes with her, and all that's left is Kali. Kali and Jane. 

_Channel your anger,_ she tells Jane, as they stand in front of an old train. _They stole your life, Jane._

And she _does it._

The little girl beside her, anger etched all over her face. She moves the train. 

She’s ready. 

They go that night, break into the guy’s apartment in their masks, and Jane gives him _hell._

But then she stops. Her big brown eyes are devoid of anger, and they stare at Kali with something like fear. 

She’s just a kid. 

But then again, so was Kali. 

She does it in the end, shoots the guy, and they run. 

Kali wants to be mad at the kid. 

She really does. 

But there’s too much of the girl she used to be in those eyes, too much innocence and honesty and good. 

So Kali lets her go. 

_There’s nothing for you back there,_ she tells Jane before she goes. _They can’t save you._

 _No,_ Jane says. _But I can save them._

And she leaves. And Kali stays. 

Jane out of love. Kali out of anger. 

Kali wonders where she’d be if she’d fed on love instead. 

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading!
> 
> All mistakes are my own, please let me know if you see any!
> 
> Kudos/Comments are greatly appreciated!


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